"Pignano" - I know, what a name. The name gives itself to the gorgeous collection of houses, farm houses and outbuildings which were once attached to my godmother's family's house Lotti (mentioned in our Tuscan taster post). This idyllic hamlet is now available to stay in as a hotel and is still under the radar of most travel sites so worth a visit very soon.
Pignano itself has now been bought by an infamous pair of media moguls. Top secret of course, let's just say they made their fortune from something beginning with G and ending in ...gle *ahem*. It has now been turned into a luxury-hotel-come-commune on the hill and boasts an azure salt water swimming pool complete with a rock large enough to turn the manliest man into a manchild in a matter of minutes - try saying that quickly over and over. No? I can't either.
On occasion the boy and I wandered up to see what we could see (ahem... eat what we could eat) at the hotel rather than foraging for ourselves in our lowly farm building, eating Flo's crostini. To celebrate my birthday, we skipped up the hill to sample their lunch and drink their crisp white vernaccia. For lunch, borgo Pignano serve a selection of 'light' dishes made from the land. On that occasion, we had quinoa and mozarella stuffed courgettes, spinach and pine nut salad and bresaola with fresh baked bread.
Flo and I went horse riding a couple of times on the site of Borgo Pignano, where they have a small stables of beautifully kept horses and ponies - more on this in other posts. They also have two beautiful hound, dalmation crosses which I fell instantly in love with.
Having had such a nice time during the days, we brought the entire family back for their barbecue night which happens on Thursdays. Arthur did us proud in the swimming pool.
It turns out we could eat rather a lot, though getting back home again afterwards was a bit of a struggle.
This summer one of Pignano's resident chefs is Texan, so she had whipped up a texan Barbecue: ribs in smokey apricot sauce and all. Being towards the end of our week, this guilty pleasure was a welcome change from all the incredible Italian food we had been eating, though obviously a little bit blasphemous. Just don't tell the locals.
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| The outdoor wood oven which usually is put to far more authentic use, but in this instance was used to heat a charcoal grill - naughty |
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| Incredible oven baked bread from the Pignano kitchen |
Naughty texan barbecue. Some light foodie escapism if you will...
